This project outlines technical bioengineering developments for new types of image contrast in the emerging field of hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI. Preliminary research in this field is extremely promising, particularly for cancer applications, and the first human trials in prostate cancer patients are slated to occur at UCSF within 6 months. This "Pathway to Independence" award application includes a mentored career development plan for transition of the candidate, Dr. Peder Larson, into an independent investigator, as well an accompanying research plan describing the proposed technical developments for hyperpolarized carbon-13 MR. The candidate, Dr. Peder Larson, is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at UCSF working on technical developments for hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI. His graduate work was in Electrical Engineering at Stanford and focused on improving MRI of semi-solid tissues, which are invisible in conventional MRI. The mentoring and career development plan will supplement his engineering background with valuable exposure to hyperpolarization physics and chemistry, biological systems and biochemistry, pre-clinical research, and inter-disciplinary collaboration to facilitate the transition to an independent bioengineering investigator. His goals are to become a faculty member in bioengineering or radiology where he can research technical biomedical imaging developments with potential clinical applications. Hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI requires specialized methods because, unlike conventional MRI, the signal decays rapidly and is unrecoverable. This project proposes rapid and efficient methods for dynamic metabolic imaging to provide localized perfusion, uptake and rate information that are unavailable in current techniques. New sources of contrast with hyperpolarized carbon-13 are also proposed, including a method to distinguish flowing metabolites from those within tissues and development of specialized techniques for multiple carbon-13 agents. Preclinical studies in normal animals will be used for investigation of the new imaging methods. This will facilitate the translation of the methods from development to future clinical application. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: MRI with hyperpolarized carbon-13 can non-invasively probe tissue functions that are altered in cancer and other disease states, and the first human trial with prostate cancer patients is shortly forthcoming. The new hyperpolarized carbon-13 imaging methods proposed in this project will provide unprecedented tissue function contrast to improve cancer imaging and potentially enable new clinical applications.